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Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Fit for a king in waiting

One of the first things I learned to make by heart was 'Caroline's Chocolate Slab' from Mary Berry's Fast Cakes. From memory, it involved butter, cocoa and crushed up wine biscuits (what we colonials call plain, sweet biscuits), topped with a rich chocolate icing. If the breathless news reports are to be believed, this is the sort of thing guests at Buckingham Palace will be nibbling on on Friday morning. But guests at our royal wedding party will be offered a silver tray of this, a slightly more posh (posher? poshly?) version.

Posh Chocolate Slab
This recipe is a version of something from an old Annabel Langbein book. I had a spot of bother when getting a chocolate cake out of a tin a few months back and the resulting broken pieces have been waiting in the freezer to be turned into crumbs for this express purpose. You could just as easily use a chocolate sponge (or indeed, any sort of sponge) from the supermarket. If you use a plain one, then up the cocoa in the recipe by a couple of tablespoons.

Topping
125g dark chocolate
1/4 cup cream
Line a brownie tin or sponge roll tin with clingfilm, allowing for plenty of overhang. Reduce the biscuits to gravel in a food processor (or use a rolling pin and brute strength). Add the cocoa and blitz again.
Put the butter, sugar golden syrup, condensed milk and chocolate in a large saucepan and heat gently until the butter and chocolate have melted. Stir well, then add half the cocoa biscuit crumbs. Mix, then tip in the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Tip into the prepared tin and smooth the top.
Melt the second measure of chocolate with the cream, stir until smooth and pour over the top. Let set, then cut into small, elegant squares with a sharp knife.

(I apologise for the dreadful photo, but there comes a time in every blogger's life where they think, argh, I have spent long enough fussing over this photo and I've already smudged the edge and I need to get dressed and make breakfast and get the Small Girl up and put the washing on and get to work... Trust me, it looks a lot prettier in real life!)
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14 comments:

Oh, that just sounds ridiculous. I know a version of this - I think it pops up in most old NZ cookbooks - that just uses biscuit pieces, but adding broken up cake takes it to another level, I suspect I'd find this very hard to share with others.

Don't stress over the photo - it looks fine, not to mention the ingredients speak for themselves...and if it's any consolation, I've completely forgotten how to take decent photos at night and my first proper blog post since returning from holiday is going to be filled with all kinds of hideous, yellow-tinged images :)

Also, I don't know why but I'm surprised they're allowed to choose their own wedding cake - for some reason I thought there might be some strictly traditional cake recipe that had to be adhered to. Good for them.

In Australia we call this kind of slice 'Hedgehog' (I'm not sure why) but it's just biscuits not cake crumbs. It's often one of the first things you learn to 'cook' when you're little.

I so relate to your photo comment. I can't tell you the number of dishes I've photographed (annoying the family in the process)only to delete them when I find them not up to scratch. Food photography is such an art isn't it?

Now this sounds remarkably like Tiffin or Chocolate Refrigerator Cake but I've not come across using cake crumbs instead of biscuit. Will have to try this next time I've got leftover cake (not a likely event with CT in the house). Taking photographs is the bane of a bloggers life - well mind anyway!

I have the Mary Berry book with Caroline's Chocolate Slab in it. Mary doesn't go in for any nonsense, although on the British Bake Off, she is now judging some very posh cakes, but she remains completely down to earth. That is a lovely version of this favourite choccie treat.

Hello, my name is Lucy. I'm a journalist and a mother and a cook and I'm always in the kitchen at parties. If you're looking for a recipe, some culinary wisdom or just a chat, you've come to the right place.